LAST TOUR OF DUTY – North Hudson firefighter Drew Vagts (center with fire axe) has completed his last tour of duty. Vagts spent 28 years at Ladder 4 in West New York, West New York Fire Department for 15 years, and spent 13 years with North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue. Also pictured (left to right) retired firefighter Bill Renner, Battalion Chief Mike Falco, Captain Richie Desimone, firefighter Stefan Vassalle, firefighter Bill Dempsey, Captain Pete Campione, and firefighter Richie Prisco.

The township’s Hamilton Park concert series will kick off this Thursday with live music at 7:30 p.m. The park is located on Boulevard East. Concerts are free.

‘Weekenders’ go to the farm

The Weehawken Weekenders are still taking reservations until July 12, for their upcoming day trip to The Magnaninni Farm Winery, on Aug. 4.

The day includes an hour of wine-tasting, a six-course dinner, muaic for your listerning and dancing pleasures. Transportation and all gratuties are included. Plaese call the Weekenders Office at 201-319-6059, for more information , and pricing.

North Hudson Community Health Fair slated for Friday, June 28

A free fair featuring a wide range of health and social services programs, along with entertainment for children and adults, will take place Friday, June 28 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 407 39th Street in Union City.

Sponsored by the Women, Infants & Children (WIC) program and the Immigration Center of North Hudson Community Action Corp., the sixth annual health fair will take place outside of the WIC center on 39th Street between Bergenline and New York avenues.

“We are working very hard to integrate immigrants into the community,” said Rosemary J. Lavagnino, director of North Hudson’s Community Action Programs, “and we decided this objective could be met in a cost-effective way by scheduling an event involving more than one of our programs, and (one) that is jointly funded by the WIC and the Immigration Center.”

Menendez announces federal HUD grant for NHCAC

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) announced nearly $700,000 in federal grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Housing Counseling Program to 15 agencies throughout New Jersey. The funding included $15,214 for the North Hudson Community Action Corporation in West New York.

“Providing services to help increase financial literacy – especially when it comes to housing – is not only good for New Jersey’s families, it’s good for the whole economy,” said Menendez, who led the effort in the U.S. Senate to keep HUD’s Housing Counseling Program funded in fiscal year 2013.

“This funding will help put more New Jersey families on a path to affordable housing and homeownership, and help more seniors stay in their own homes by using the equity they have built,” he said.

HUD’s Housing Counseling Program provides services to homebuyers, homeowners, low- to moderate-income renters, and the homeless in order to expand homeownership opportunities and improve access to affordable housing.

County gaining population

All 12 Hudson County municipalities gained population from 2010 to 2012, according to statistics from the U.S. Census, according to a report in The Jersey Journal.

The towns, and their populations in 2010 and 2012, are: Bayonne, 63,138 to 64,416; East Newark, 2,408 to 2,441; Guttenberg, 11,183 to 11,356; Harrison, 13,637 to 13,874; Hoboken, 50,119 to 52,034; Jersey City, 248,385 to 254,441; Kearny, 40,724 to 41,389; North Bergen, 60,831 to 61,960; Secaucus, 16,319 to 18,351; Union City, 66,540 to 67,744; Weehawken, 12,581 to 12,832; and West New York, 49,827 to 51,564.

New Jersey’s population grew by a tiny seven tenths of a percent, adding a little more than 60,000 people, according to the bureau.

The Census report also revealed that the state is growing grayer and more ethnic, and its residents are increasingly abandoning the suburbs and rural areas in favor of cities.

The Census reported that the number of people leaving New Jersey continued to increase.